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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29438145">Makeout Creek</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fieryphrazes/pseuds/fieryphrazes'>fieryphrazes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>MASH (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Era, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Open Marriage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:06:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,845</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29438145</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fieryphrazes/pseuds/fieryphrazes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Wait – wait. I figured what out?”<br/>Hawkeye waved a hand noncommittally, gesturing vaguely between them.<br/>“That I, you know, like wearing your jacket. Like having your pin pinned on me. Want you to drive me to makeout creek and get me into trouble. All the stupid little stuff that makes the world go around.” </p>
<p>The insane letterman jacket posting wormed its way into my brain and somehow turned into this...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>B. J. Hunnicutt/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>108</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Makeout Creek</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I mean, what was I going to do, NOT post this on Valentine's Day? </p>
<p>This has not been beta read -- so if you see something say something, or even just drop a comment to let my beta reader know how much they are missed!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What the hell –” BJ said as he opened the box from Mill Valley. He’d expected a tin of cookies, maybe a new blanket, but not – this. His old letterman jacket, looking smaller than it used to, wrapped around a new wool sweater. He unrolled the jacket and held it up, puzzled and a little bit nostalgic. Hawkeye looked up from whatever medical instrument he was mistreating on the other side of the tent.</p>
<p>“Beej, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think you’re gonna be late for the big game,” he joked.</p>
<p>“If I start running now, I might make it before the season’s over.” BJ dug through the box looking for an explanation. He found Peg’s note crumpled at the bottom of the package.</p>
<p>
  <em>Dear BJ, I told your mom I was sending winter supplies and she asked me to send this, too. Have fun reliving your glory days. Love you. Miss you. Say hi to Hawkeye for me. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>PS – I included your pin, in case you find someone to go steady with... </em>
</p>
<p>BJ smoothed the paper flat, grinning stupidly at the message. Peg was something else – she knew he hated the damn jacket, knew that those days were the last thing he’d want to relive. He hadn’t been able to really be himself for any of it, he knew that now. He’d been a ball of nerves, trying to act like the kid everyone wanted him to be.</p>
<p>But she’d sent it, and she’d sent him something else too: a reminder about their agreement. That if he found someone, he could – well. It worked both ways, and he’d never begrudged Peg for taking advantage of it. Maybe it was his turn.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When the winter really started, BJ was grateful for every layer. He took to wearing the jacket close to his skin – his shoulders had gotten broader since high school, and he knew it wouldn’t fit as an outer layer, so it went on over a t-shirt and under the new sweater. It stayed there for most of the bitter winter, a useful barrier against the cold.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>One movie night in the spring, Hawkeye </span>
  <span>sneezed</span>
  <span> so much </span>
  <span>that </span>
  <span>Potter threw them</span>
  <span> out of the mess tent. They’d seen the movie before, anyway – it had been months since any new reels </span>
  <span>showed up in the supply truck</span>
  <span>. </span>
  <span>Back i</span>
  <span>n the swamp, BJ poured two martinis and delivered </span>
  <span>one</span>
  <span> with a flourish to Hawkeye, who was sniffling </span>
  <span>dramatically</span>
  <span> on his cot. </span>
</p>
<p>“Your doctor prescribes a good belt,” he told Hawkeye, who took the drink gratefully and downed it in record time.</p>
<p>“I feel better already,” Hawkeye jumped up with an artificial vigor, beating his chest like Tarzan. “Hey, you wanna take a walk? I’m feeling all cooped up in here,” Hawkeye said, and BJ nodded.</p>
<p>“Sure, but you’ll get worse if you spend all night shivering – hold on.” BJ turned and rummaged through his foot locker. The letterman jacket was the first warm thing he found, and he tossed it over.</p>
<p>“Oh, this takes me back,” Hawkeye said, voice loaded with innuendo, as he shrugged it over his shoulders. The sight hit BJ right in the gut – Hawkeye, cheeks flushed and eyes bright, wearing his letterman jacket. BJ gulped and tried to will away the blush he felt on his own face.</p>
<p>“<span>You don’t seem like the letterman type,” BJ </span><span>prompted. </span></p>
<p>“Oh no, not mine,” Hawkeye said, as if that should have been obvious. “I was not exactly the star of the football team.” BJ snorted. “No, I used to – well, a couple times, I wore Tommy’s.”</p>
<p>
  <span>BJ didn’t </span>
  <span>know what to say</span>
  <span>. He’d heard a few mentions of Tommy, nothing definite, just – love and trauma. Things that seemed to go hand-in-hand for Hawkeye. </span>
</p>
<p>“Well, now you’ve got mine,” BJ said lightly. He held out his arm and they strolled out the door together, circling the camp in the cool night air, trading puns and making each other laugh with their stupidest jokes.</p>
<p>When they returned to the swamp, Hawkeye held the jacket out to BJ, but he gestured for Hawkeye to keep it.</p>
<p>“It suits you,” he said with a shrug. “Too tight around my shoulders anyway.”</p>
<p>“Ohhh, I get it,” Hawkeye drawled. “You jocks are all the same, picking on a skinny guy like me.” BJ laughed.</p>
<p>“Just keep it, Hawk.” BJ climbed into his cot smiling.</p>
<p>“Or maybe you’re trying to go steady with me,” Hawkeye mused from the other side of the tent. “All you had to do was ask!”</p>
<p>“Okay, Hawk, will you go steady with me?” BJ asked sleepily.</p>
<p>“I’m gonna need more than a jacket, Beej – where’s your pin?” Hawkeye volleyed back, escalating as usual.</p>
<p>“It’s on the lapel,” BJ said and Hawkeye went silent. Probably checking for the pin, BJ thought.</p>
<p>“Beej –”</p>
<p>“Goodnight, Hawk,” BJ interrupted, not sure what Hawkeye would say – whether it would be another joke or something more serious. Either way, he was tired. He’d deal with it tomorrow.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tomorrow came, and Hawkeye was wearing the jacket, pin and all. If BJ had worried about him taking it seriously – he shouldn’t have. Hawkeye was practically skipping around camp, showing off the jacket, batting his eyelashes at BJ from across the mess tent. Everyone rolled their eyes, BJ included. It was just like Hawkeye, to take something BJ was worried about people seeing and put it center stage, where no one would ever notice that it was true. He wondered if Hawkeye saw the truth there.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He wrote to Peg, telling her about all of it, framing it as a joke for the censors. He knew she would see through it.</p>
<p>
  <em>The jacket fits Hawkeye perfectly. He loves to walk around camp telling people I finally pinned him. He thinks it’s hilarious. </em>
</p>
<p>Peg wrote back and proved him right. She understood.</p>
<p>
  <em>Oh, BJ. Darling. I know it must be hard to be so close and not there yet. You’ll get there, I know it. SW2K (one for you and one for Hawkeye) </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Peg says hello,” BJ said casually, looking up from his letter as Hawkeye swanned into the swamp, wearing the jacket as always.</p>
<p>“Beej, does she – does she know?” Hawkeye mock whispered, drawing his hands to his chest nervously. “Does she know you gave your jacket to someone new?” BJ rolled his eyes.</p>
<p>“I think that’s what she had in mind when she sent it to me,” he said, returning to his letter. Hawkeye dropped his hands and looked at BJ in confusion.</p>
<p>“<span>Wait – really? Or is that a bad joke? Are you two doing okay?” Hawkeye’s voice was sincere, full of concern. BJ turned to him, surprise</span><span>d</span><span>. </span></p>
<p>“<span>We’re great,” he said openly. “Never better. But it’s – it’s not </span><span>exactly </span><span>a joke.” </span></p>
<p>“I don’t understand,” Hawkeye said. BJ sighed.</p>
<p>“<span>Peg doesn’t want me to be lonely,” he said, willing Hawkeye to understand without making him say the words. </span><span>He knew he didn’t have the nerve to </span><span>lay it all out</span><span>. Not yet. </span></p>
<p>“<span>Well how could you be lonely with a best friend like me?” Hawkeye asked half-jokingly, </span><span>but he</span><span> still seemed suspicious of BJ. </span></p>
<p>“<span>Exactly,” BJ said, </span><span>relieved to lay</span><span> it to rest. </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>H</span>
  <span>awkeye had acquired a bottle of wine – real wine – and a date with a new nurse. He set off humming just after dark, </span>
  <span>after applying too much aftershave and tucking the wine under his arm. </span>
  <span>BJ put it out of his mind, trying not to think about whatever would be happening out </span>
  <span>there </span>
  <span>in </span>
  <span>a </span>
  <span>secluded field. He settled onto his cot with a new journal. </span>
  <span>He’d been reading for a while when Margaret unceremoniously kicked the swamp door open. </span>
</p>
<p>“You know Pierce drives me as crazy as the next person,” she said, her voice agitated.</p>
<p>“Sure, I’m the next person, after all,” he joked, waiting for the rest of the thought.</p>
<p>“But there are some things you just don’t do, like breaking a date on your first night in camp,” she ranted, pausing for a breath. “I just came from my nurses’ tent, and they’re all in there laughing about the egg that’s going to be on Pierce’s face when she doesn’t show. They’re taking bets on how long he’ll wait.”</p>
<p>“Joke’s on them, he’s got a bottle of real red wine. Guess he’ll need someone to help him finish it,” BJ said, already standing up and heading out the door. He grabbed the jacket on his way out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>BJ found Hawkeye’s Jeep parked a little ways outside camp, the headlights shining onto an empty field. Hawkeye was off to the side just outside the beams, sitting with his back against a tree.</p>
<p>“<span>Either that nurse has had a growth spurt in the last couple hours, o</span><span>r all my dreams are coming true and BJ Hunnicutt is striding across a field towards me,” Hawkeye joked. BJ paused in the shadows, forcing himself to laugh. </span></p>
<p>“<span>I guess your dreams are coming true,” he said. “Mind if I join you for a drink?” Hawkeye </span><span>gave a generous wave</span><span>, gesturing for BJ to sit next to him. Once he’d settled there, Hawkeye passed him the bottle and BJ took a slug. </span></p>
<p>“Margaret says she’s not coming,” he explained.</p>
<p>“Margaret? Who invited her?” Hawkeye deadpanned. BJ groaned. “Yeah, I figured. You know what’s crazy though?” Hawkeye took a sip from the bottle before he completed the thought. “I was kind of hoping you’d show up instead.”</p>
<p>“<span>How could I resist, when you’re sitting </span><span>on the outskirts of town </span><span>just </span><span>waiting for a date</span><span>? We’ve even got a backseat handy, if you’re feeling adventurous.” BJ knew it sounded like a joke. That’s the only reason he’d let himself say it. But Hawkeye didn’t laugh. </span></p>
<p>“Beej – you make an awful lot of jokes about backseats,” Hawkeye said after a moment.</p>
<p>“Do I? I never noticed.”</p>
<p>“Must be some kind of fixation. Did you get too many girls to drive with you to makeout point, or not enough?”</p>
<p>BJ laughed.</p>
<p>“<span>Never enough, Hawk, you of all people should know that,” he teased. “Anyway, </span><span>it was</span><span> makeout creek.” </span></p>
<p>“Same thing!” Hawkeye dismissed it with a wave. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder, curved around the trunk of the tree, faces turned away from each other but connected from shoulder to hip. Side by side. BJ felt Hawkeye shiver.</p>
<p>“Oh, I almost forgot – brought your jacket,” BJ said, handing over the bundle that he’d set on the ground.</p>
<p>“<span>Beej, this is your jacket,” Hawkeye reminded him, sounding somehow resigned to the fact. But it didn’t stop him from putting it on. BJ shrugged, his shoulder bumping into Hawkeye’s. </span></p>
<p>“<span>I like seeing it on you,” he said, not bothering to disguise it </span><span>with</span><span> a joke. He was tired of burying the true things under layers of comedy. He wondered if Hawkeye ever felt the same way, if there was even anything under the surface, or if it was all joke. He felt Hawkeye take a sharp breath, then let it out slowly. </span></p>
<p>“If you don’t watch out, people are going to think we’re really going steady,” Hawkeye said cautiously. It made BJ want to throw caution to the wind.</p>
<p>“<span>Well I </span><span>did </span><span>follow you to Korea’s version of makeout creek, so they might already think that.” A joke crept back into BJ’s voice – just enough to protect himself if need be. </span></p>
<p>“Beej, are you – are you being straight with me?” Hawkeye asked earnestly, turning to face BJ in the darkness.</p>
<p>“<span>Well – yes and no. </span><span>I think this is the first time in my life I can honestly say this, but – I’m being straight with you, Hawk. </span><span>B</span><span>ut this is the least straight I’ve ever been.” BJ had been </span><span>avoiding looking at Hawkeye, staring over at the Jeep instead, but now he turned to look him in the eyes. Hawkeye looked – confused. Hurt. </span></p>
<p>“Alright, you figured it out and you’re having a little fun playing with me. I can take it,” Hawkeye said defensively. “It’s low, but I can take it.”</p>
<p>“<span>Hawk, what – no! I’m not playing at anything,” BJ tried to explain. “I’m trying to tell you something real, if you’ll stop tying yourself in knots long enough to listen.” </span><span>In the midst of defending himself, BJ processed what Hawkeye had really said.</span><span> “Wait – wait. I figured what out?” </span></p>
<p>Hawkeye waved a hand noncommittally, gesturing vaguely between them.</p>
<p>“That I, you know, like wearing your jacket. Like having your pin pinned on me. Want you to drive me to makeout creek and get me into trouble. All the stupid little stuff that makes the world go around.”</p>
<p>BJ felt a gnawing hunger where his organs had been just a moment before. He’d only gone halfway there, but Hawkeye had just – said it. All of it. Everything BJ had been thinking for – god, who knows how long. A long time.</p>
<p>“And you think I’d, what, make fun of you for that? That I’d come out here and turn it into a joke, instead of hauling you over to that Jeep for some good old-fashioned necking?”</p>
<p>Hawkeye looked at him, startled.</p>
<p>“Necking? Does anyone still say that?” he pondered aloud, completely missing the point. As usual, BJ thought.</p>
<p>“Come on. Up,” BJ said, standing and holding out a hand to Hawkeye. He pulled, their chests bumping as Hawkeye rose, wine bottle abandoned on the ground.</p>
<p>BJ didn’t let go of his hand, just dragged Hawkeye over to the Jeep and flipped off the headlights.</p>
<p>“Go on,” BJ said, pushing him forward.</p>
<p>“Beej, what are you doing?” BJ sighed.</p>
<p>“I’m trying to get you into some trouble in the backseat of this Jeep,” he said. “Wasn’t that clear?”</p>
<p>“Not to me,” Hawkeye complained.</p>
<p>“Then you haven’t been paying attention! I gave you the jacket, I gave you the pin, I met you out at makeout creek, now please get in the goddamn car,” he pleaded. Hawkeye looked at him, maybe considering it seriously for the first time.</p>
<p>“<span>Okay,” he said, climbing in. “But I want you to know, I won’t always be this easy.” BJ clambered in after Hawkeye, crowding close to him in the backseat. </span></p>
<p>“Hi,” Hawkeye breathed once they were snug, pressed close together, legs far too long for the space they were folded into.</p>
<p>“Hi,” BJ said back, for the moment scared to do anything more than stare at Hawkeye, sitting so close to him, looking alarmingly like his teen dream come to life.</p>
<p>“<span>So what happens</span><span> now?” Hawkeye asked, even as they were inching toward each other. </span></p>
<p>“What, is this your first time?” BJ teased. Hawkeye gave him a wicked grin and closed the distance between them, kissing BJ hard and hungry. BJ held on for dear life, gripping his hands in Hawkeye’s jacket, trying to give as good as he was getting.</p>
<p>
  <span>H</span>
  <span>e ended up sprawled flat on his back, long legs hanging out over the door, the delicious weight of Hawkeye pressing him down into the seat. Hawkeye had maneuvered a knee between BJ’s legs, bringing them even closer together. BJ kept Hawkeye anchored to him with one hand splayed across the small of his back, the other buried in his hair. </span>
</p>
<p>“<span>So what –“ Hawkeye said as he kissed down BJ’s neck, “—brought this on?” BJ groaned, trying to focus on formulating words instead of getting lost in the sensations that were overwhelming him. </span></p>
<p>“<span>Is it so hard to believe?” he finally managed to say. “That I </span><span>might</span><span> have felt this way the whole time?” </span></p>
<p>
  <span>Hawkeye went still above him; he sat up on his knees, grabbed BJ by the collar and pulled him up too. </span>
  <span>He pushed and prodded at BJ until he was sitting up, lap full of Hawkeye. </span>
</p>
<p>“<span>Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked breathlessly. “Beej, we could have been doing this the whole time!” BJ </span><span>didn’t reply right away, just drank in the sight of Hawkeye, flushed and wide-eyed. BJ slipped his hands under the letterman jacket and ran them up Hawkeye’s back, </span><span>using that leverage to </span><span>bring Hawkeye back in for a deep kiss</span><span>. </span><span>H</span><span>e broke away and enjoyed the sight of Hawkeye breathless. He knew he must look just as disheveled; he could feel his chest heaving, his heart beating alarmingly fast. </span></p>
<p>“<span>We’re doing it now,” he said, wanting desperately to focus on that – to not dwell on the time wasted. Hawkeye </span><span>kissed him again, something tender and exploratory in it this time. Like they didn’t have to rush. Like they had plenty of time. </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They made it back to camp just before dawn, BJ driving the Jeep and Hawkeye draped over his shoulder. They stumbled into the swamp, hands </span>
  <span>parting reluctantly</span>
  <span> out as they separated towards their cot</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>. BJ fell asleep smiling. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Two weeks later he finished up a letter to Peg, one he’d been wanting to write for a long time. Maybe the whole time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Happy to say the jacket isn’t mine anymore. Enclosed is a picture of its new owner, pin and all. Thank you for sending it. Love you. Miss you. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>PS – Hawkeye says hello. </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It started as crack but of course it became about BJ repression instead.......... </p>
<p>All these tropes really come from 50s-60s media, I think (hello, Bye Bye Birdie!), and I have no idea if any of it would have been common when they were actually teenagers, but... who cares! In that spirit, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4GVPz9GsIxWACZDLRhDdnO?si=ca40f1d49c4e41cc">I made an anachronistic playlist!</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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